Surprise! Stats Show Fewer Wrecks at Controversial CK Interchange

It has been more than a year since construction was finished on the Waaga Way interchange, and criticism of the new intersection hasn't gone away.

Many drivers continue to complain about lane configurations, and some believe the new interchange is more dangerous than the old one.

But a look at state traffic statistics indicates otherwise.

Work on the project ended in November 2007. Between Dec. 1, 2007, and Nov. 30, 2008, 26 collisions were reported at the Waaga Way interchange, according to the state Department of Transportation. The DOT data is collected from Washington State Patrol accident reports.

None of those accidents were fatalities and only two involved serious injuries.

The old interchange averaged 43 accidents a year between 2001 and 2005, according to DOT reports. None of those accidents caused fatalities, either.

Comparing numbers from one year to averages from a five-year period won't make statisticians happy, but transportation and law enforcement officials think the decline is worth noting.

"Accidents have definitely been reduced," said Brenden Clarke, a state transportation engineer. "At first when we opened the interchange, people were saying we were setting motorists up for accidents on a daily basis.

"Obviously that's not the case."

A review of accidents from the 2001-2005 report showed that most of the crashes happened at four locations.

Highway 303's connection with Clear Creek Road was the site of 40 accidents; 43 more happened at the left-turn lane from Kitsap Mall Boulevard to the on-ramp to southbound Highway 3. The new interchange design eliminated both trouble spots.

The other two high-accident locations — the northbound on-ramp to Highway 3 from Kitsap Mall Boulevard and the northbound off-ramp from Highway 3 south into Silverdale — saw 25 and 14 accidents, respectively.

While the new design appears to have decreased collision rates, accident reports from the first year show one spot seems to be causing drivers more trouble than others — where drivers from the Highway 3 south off-ramp go toward Silverdale.

Seven accidents were reported there, most of them rear-end collisions in the right-turn lane.

"My wife drives it every day to work, and she doesn't like the off-ramp from Highway 3 to Waaga Way," said Suquamish resident Bill Vale about his wife Judy's commute.

Vale was surprised to hear the accident data showed a decline in collisions, citing a number of locations along the interchange — including all of the left-turn on-ramps — where he expected accidents to have increased.

Even though they aren't overly happy with the new configuration, Vale said they haven't altered their driving habits to avoid the interchange.

Deputy Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office, said his office doesn't have any data showing whether or not drivers are increasing use of side roads into Silverdale to avoid using the interchange.

State Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Krista Hedstrom said the interchange hasn't been a problem for her department. She guessed that collision rates could go down even more next year as drivers become more familiar with the structure.

"I know there's a lot of people out there that don't like the interchange," she said. "But when you see the drop in the number of collisions, I guess the numbers speak for themselves."